 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Droughts, floods and other natural disasters are creating huge economic losses around the world, totaling about $US 2.5 trillion this century, according to estimates by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Bloomberg BNA reported. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged businesses to take steps to reduce disaster risk exposure when investing in new buildings [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Poultry farms may not be creating as much water pollution as previously thought, according to research that challenges U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards used to forecast pollution in water systems, USA Today reported. The research could change the implementation of federal programs meant to clean up dead zones in bays and rivers, such as the [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world’s atmosphere reached a daily average of 400 parts per million (ppm), according to measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the Guardian reported. The measurement is the highest recorded at the observatory, and scientists believe similar CO2 levels have not been seen for several [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
For Water, Cities Look to Farms Conserving water on farms is the key to securing water for cities that face recurring shortages, according to a new study published in the journal Water Policy, National Geographic reported. The growth of both irrigated agriculture and cities in water-scarce regions has fueled these shortages, necessitating working relationships between [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
The salinity of Bangladesh’s water supply is increasing, especially in coastal areas, due to sea level rise and natural disasters like floods and cyclones, according to a World Bank study, AlertNet reported. Families in remote areas sometimes have to walk miles to get safe drinking water. U.S. Water Supply The final measure of California snowpack [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Water and Energy Storage In a column for Reuters, market analyst Gerard Wynn discusses the potential growth of hydropower pumping stations for storing energy and balancing electrical grids. The stations can use energy from intermittent sources such as wind and solar to pump water to higher elevations, releasing it at a later time to generate [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Flooding Kenya is struggling to help the 90,000 people displaced by spring floods, which have also destroyed crops, AlertNet reported. The country’s cycle of floods and droughts have spurred calls for better disaster management at the national level. Months after monsoon floods hit southern Pakistan, displaced residents face a difficult road to recovery in 2013, [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Floods While changing rainfall and climate patterns have been linked to increased flooding around the globe, new research suggests that erosion due to deforestation and development also plays a role by making rivers less able to mitigate large storms, AlertNet reported. Increased erosion and sedimentation rates in rivers are related to a region’s economic growth, [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Drought Relief Farm fields across the Midwestern United States were quenched this week as heavy rainstorms over the central part of the country continued to relieve one of the worst droughts in U.S. history, Reuters reported. Grain prices, which were pushed up to record highs last summer due to the drought-damaged U.S. corn crop, could [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Water-Food-Energy A drought in Vietnam has uncovered tensions between water users in the country’s energy and agricultural sectors, Radio Free Asia reported. Despite a directive from the prime minister, the operator of a hydropower dam has refused to send more water downstream to drought-hit farms. While South Africa’s mining sector receives much of the blame [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
With her recent move from Alabama to Hawaii, Circle of Blue reporter Codi Yeager-Kozacek finds that, in the middle of an ocean, freshwater challenges abound.
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Water Infrastructure Ghana’s water infrastructure is in such a state of disrepair that it threatens the country’s economic growth, which is predicted to reach 8 percent in 2013, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Some companies have turned to private water tankers to secure supplies for their factories because of intermittent service. U.S. Natural Disasters A new report [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
A leak was discovered at yet another underground water storage tank used to contain radioactive wastewater from Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, The New York Times reported. The country is struggling to find places to store the contaminated water, but has promised not to release it into the Pacific Ocean. A Chilean court [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Peru Plans for a $500 million water project in Peru could divert rainwater across the Andes from the Amazon Basin to the country’s dry coast, turning the desert there into farmland, Reuters reported. The Olmos Irrigation Project is slated to start in 2014, and is one of seven large projects Peru has planned to increase [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
U.S. consumers have just started to feel the effects of last summer’s drought at the supermarket. Prices are expected to continue increasing throughout 2013.
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
South America Nearly 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain pummeled Argentina’s Buenos Aires province, causing widespread floods, power outages and 31 deaths as of Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The extreme weather has prompted calls for investment in public water infrastructure projects. Tensions are rising in the Brazilian Amazon between government forces and the Munduruku [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
While Brazil’s major crop growing areas are producing a record soybean harvest, the country’s northeast region is still suffering a severe drought, Aljazeera reported. This photo slideshow focuses on the heavy toll being paid by cattle ranchers. Pollution Clean-Up China is setting aside $US 16 billion over the next three years to reduce pollution in [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Researchers see great promise in eDNA testing to detect invasive and rare species at low abundance — including invasive Asian carp — but refining the tool is a long process.
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
South America A new billboard in Peru is creating fresh water from the air, helping to supply local communities, according to the Global Post. Though the area typically receives very little rainfall, the billboard takes advantage of the region’s high humidity. In an effort to clean up oil projects in the Amazon, Peru has declared [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
Canada Oil Sands An unknown volume of water has been released from a holding pond at Suncor Energy’s oil sands project in Alberta, Reuters reported. The water was released into the Athabasca River, though it is unclear if the water contained toxic materials. China Water Pollution Another wave of dead animals has hit China’s waterways, [...]
| Help share our stories: |
|
|
|
| About | | Staff | | In the News | | Ethics & Sponsorship | | Internships | | Board Members | | Contact | | Log In |